Bristol leads house price charge among UK cities

Bristol leads in house price growth after a 12.3 per cent rise during Q3 this year, according to the latest survey from Hometrack.

David Sapsted

21 October 2016

Bristol continues to see the fastest annual rate of house price growth among the 20 largest UK cities, according to the latest quarterly survey from property analysts Hometrack.The rate in the city in the west of England hit 12.3 per cent to reach an average of £259,800 in the three months to the end of September – a quarter which saw healthy growth in many cities away from SE England.London, however, saw its weakest growth in almost two years with a 0.9 per cent rise over Q3 as the number of homes coming on to the market in the capital outstripped demand from buyers. Although the quarterly average of £480,500 was 10 per cent higher than a year earlier, Hometrack is forecasting that the annual rate will fall to around five per cent by year's end.The southern university cities of Oxford and Cambridge also experienced faltering house price growth over the first nine months of the year, primarily as a result of affordability issues, said Hometrack. Meanwhile, Aberdeen, the UK's oil capital, was the only one of the 20 cities where house prices were lower than they were a year earlier as a result of the slump in oil prices and industry activity. The average property value there over the third quarter stood at £181,300, a fall of almost 10 per cent over the year.Generally, though, Hometrack said price growth was holding up across the majority of the UK's major cities with the national average annual increase standing at 8.5 per cent, compared to 5.7 per cent in the year to September 2015. Cities such as Liverpool, Manchester, Cardiff and Birmingham – where homes remained relatively affordable compared to cities to the south – recorded sharp accelerations in prices since the start of the year, said Hometrack.

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Richard Donnell, a Hometrack director, said, "In the immediate aftermath of the vote to leave the EU there was little obvious impact on the housing market and the rate of house price growth."Three months on and it is becoming clearer that households in large regional cities outside southern England continue to feel confident in buying homes and taking advantage of record low mortgage rates where affordability remains attractive for those with equity. "In London, market conditions are the opposite and new taxes are hitting investor demand while homeowners face stretched affordability levels which are combining to slow the rate of house price growth."

Average house prices (annual increase and quarterly increases in brackets):